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September 16, 2013

Mike Grgich turns 90. Again!

Mike Grgich turned 90 years old yesterday.
For the 167nd time.

Mike, who’s one of the founding fathers
of America’s wine industry, actually turned 90 April 1, but Napa Valley is
celebrating the winemaker’s birthday as many times as possible throughout the
course of the year.

Last night was the 167th
night since his actual birthday – a good occasion for another celebration.

Mike blowing out 90 candles on his cake last night

This one was held at one of my favorite
hotels in Napa Valley, Bardessono, in Yountville.

Mike doesn’t seem old for 90 but I
suspect that after blowing out a 90-candle cake so many times at so many celebratory
birthday dinners across the valley this year, the guy must be pooped.

If Mike’s last name, which looks like a
typo, doesn’t ring a bell, then it’s possible that you have been living in a
cave, or have been on life support, for 37 years. Because Mike became a
favorite Napa Valley son in 1976 when the Chardonnay he made for Chateau
Montelena outscored France’s best white Burgundies at the now famous “Judgment
of Paris” tasting.

This victory transformed the status of
Napa Valley wines forever. America knocked the French off their fancy schmancy wine
pedestal - on their home turf! And Mike had made the killer Chardonnay that changed
history.

So important was Mike Grgich’s contribution
to American culture, in fact, that the winning
bottle of Chardonnay is now displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of
American History along with one of Mike’s famous berets, his suitcase, and his wine
textbooks.

Mike is actually a shortened version of
Miljenko, his real name, bestowed upon him by his parents in communist
Yugoslavia.

Mike grew up in the village of Desne on
Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, where generations of his family had grown grapes and
made wine.

Last night at dinner, Mike told me that,
for the first 30 years of his life in Yugoslavia, under communist rule, he
never once was able to celebrate his birthday. (It looks like he’s making up for
lost time this year...)

“We only ever celebrated one person’s
birthday each year in Croatia – Jesus’.... on December 25th. For the
rest of us, no one celebrated a birthday,” he said.

Looking for a better life in North
America, Mike fled Yugoslavia, first settling in Germany for 18 months, then in
Canada for two-and-a-half years.

In 1958, Mike landed in Napa Valley, with
one suitcase (now at the Smithsonian), some wine
textbooks, and $32 hidden in his shoes.

The rest is pretty much the story of
which dreams – and Hollywood movies – are made.

People reverentially speak of Mike in
the same breath in which they speak of pioneering vintners here like Robert
Mondavi, Brother Timothy from Christian Brothers, and André Tchelistcheff from
Beaulieu Vineyards.

After crafting the prize-winning 1973
Chardonnay for Chateau Montelena, Mike teamed up with Austin Hills (of Hills
Bros. coffee) to establish his own eponymous winery.

In July 1977, ground was broken in
Rutherford to create Grgich Hills Cellar. In 2006, the name was changed to
Grgich Hills Estate once Mike opted to produce all his wines from estate-grown
fruit.

Today, Grgich Hills Estate owns five
properties in the three temperature zones, which run the length of Napa Valley.

The winery earns many international
awards for its balanced, elegant wines and is recognized as a leader in
sustainable vineyard practices. And did I mention, the wines are sensational...?

I always send visitors to Mike’s winery
because his Chardonnay is such a gorgeous, refreshing, beverage. Even if it
hadn’t won the 1976 Paris tasting, Mike’s Chardonnay would deserve a special niche
at the Smithsonian - for its finesse.

Last night was proof again that, years
later, Mike hasn’t lost his Chardonnay touch.

At the Bardessono dinner, Mike yucked it up with dinner guest Candi Kosich

The 2010 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay
served at dinner was, to my mind, the single best glass of Chardonnay that I
have had all year. And this includes many bottles of over-priced white
Burgundy, which more often disappoint than inspire.

Mike’s Chardonnays are balanced,
harmonious, elegant, and exhibit a great deal of finesse.

They are juicy, yet focused, and are
never buttery, as Mike does not let his Chardonnay go through malolactic
fermentation. This is a common winemaking stage - a secondary fermentation in which
naturally occurring malic acid is converted to lactic acid.

Chardonnays that have gone through “ML,”
as it’s called, tend to pick up buttery, or dairy, notes. When “malo’d,”
Chardonnay may even exhibit hints of butterscotch.

Mike also goes against the grain (so to
speak) with oak, fighting the trend to over-oak white wines. Mike only gives
his Chardonnay a soupcon of oak letting
it age six months in a combination of Limousin and Nevers French barrels -
one-third new oak, one-third once-used oak, one-third twice used oak.

If I were asked to sum up Mike’s style
of winemaking, I would say that he is a Master of Restraint. His wines are well
balanced, they are NOT oak monsters, they are NOT alcoholic, they are NOT fruit-bombs.

Mike’s wines display a restraint that is
rare in Napa Valley.

Last night, to celebrate Mike’s 90th
birthday (again), the Bardessono Hotel hosted a dinner for 20 special friends
and clients. Executive Chef Victor Scargle looked after the menu.

Bardessono Executive Chef Victor Scargle

I have followed Victor’s career since he
appeared on my food radar screen at Julia’s Kitchen, at COPIA, in Napa. I dined
regularly at COPIA, always excited to taste Victor’s dishes.

I was happy for Victor when he moved on,
accepting a teaching position at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), in
St. Helena, but I felt that Napa Valley had lost one of its best practicing chefs.
At night, when we’d head out to dine, it was like there was one less twinkling
star in the restaurant firmament.

And then Victor left academia and turned
up at Bardessono to run Lucy, the hotel’s fine dining room. Happy were we.
Happy were our palates.

Victor and Mike Grgich ham it up for the camera at the Bardessono dinner

So what a night last night! The dynamic
duo were both on hand – Mike Grgich with many wines to complement Victor
Scargle’s sensational fare.

Mike speaks to the dinner group; that's Bardessono GM Jim Treadway on the
right

In the 1980s, Plavac Mali was initially thought to be
an ancestor of Zinfandel. In 1998, with urging from Mike Grgich, Carole
Meredith from UC Davis and researchers from the University of Zagreb, researched
the origins of Zinfandel through DNA fingerprinting. They discovered that
Zinfandel is actually one parent of Plavac Mali. The other parent is an ancient
variety known as Dobričić.

Of the two wines paired at
dinner – the 2008 Plavac Mali and the 2009 Grgich Hills Estate Zin, I actually
scored the Plavac Mali one point higher. It has many of the same ripe red and
black fruit flavors of the Zinfandel, but it also has a softer, medium-bodied
weight in the mouth, is more sensual, more ethereal – if that’s a word that can
be applied to a wine containing 15.4% alcohol!

In sum, the evening was a grand
success. As they say in Mike’s native Croatia - Hvala, Mike and Victor, for a wonderful evening – Thanks!

A great souvenir from the evening - a photo of the Master of Restraint and moi.